<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Come near me do not spare me by eloisestarryeyes</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035459">Come near me do not spare me</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloisestarryeyes/pseuds/eloisestarryeyes'>eloisestarryeyes</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Mechanisms (Band), Ulysses Dies at Dawn - The Mechanisms (Album)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Along with a good helping of one person’s few years worth of obsession and self projection, Angst, Background Relationships, Character Study, Culmination of several people’s centuries worth of analysis and interpretations, Drabble, Gen, I Don't Even Know, I have no idea how canon this is, Just a lonely kid rambling to a robot, One sided conversation, One sided friendship, Oneshot, References to Ancient Greek Religion &amp; Lore, References to Canon, Somebody get this kid some friends, what even is this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 23:54:30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,069</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28035459</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/eloisestarryeyes/pseuds/eloisestarryeyes</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Icarus wants to get a glimpse of this Minotaur that he only hears whispers of.<br/>(Prequel to my previous UDAD fic This is how it feels to take a fall)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Come near me do not spare me</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Title references the song Icarus by Jason Webley</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>The boy shuffled as quietly as he could into the dark room. Every little tap, every little creak, it all felt like a cacophony in that agonizing trip. To this young man, it was agonizing because he knew he wasn’t supposed to be there. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Icarus couldn’t help it. He was so curious to see this Minotaur. He only briefly saw blueprints of it before, on his father’s desk. Before it was sent to the Minos family for construction. Ever since then, he was dying to see the finished product with his own two eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the near pitch blackness, Icarus could make out the unmistakable shape of the horns. And with it, the sleek design and imposing body of the completed Minotaur. All of it quietly slumped over, not even activated yet. His adventurous heart rushed with excitement.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Hello there.” The youth whispered as he crouched down and sat in front of it. He gazed upon it in complete awe.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m Icarus.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He spoke to the machine as if it were alive.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’ve never seen anything like you before. I wonder what you could be for. Something as strong as you must be really important, I’m sure. No one ever told me though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Nobody ever tells me anything. Not even Father. Even though I’m supposed to succeed him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>I’m supposed to be as good as him. I have to be.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus was silent for a moment. He reflected on all the failed projects, all the malfunctions, all the subpar attempts to be that man. He didn’t dare to say the reason why, even though he knew deep down inside.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I wish I didn’t have to. To tell you the truth, I hate this place. I hate this whole damn labyrinth. I want to leave.” </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He took in a sharp breath. He never confessed that to anyone before. Icarus once again stared through the darkness into the lifeless, metal eyes of the Minotaur.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Are you going to be alive? What would you think of this place? I mean, you’re probably going to see so much of it. And how awful it is.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The possibility of the Minotaur’s sentience weighed on him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“If you’re going to be alive… would you… be my friend?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus’s face flushed red in the darkness. What a stupid thing, asking an inanimate machine to be his friend.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“It’s just... I-I.. I’ve never really had a friend before. I mean, there’s Father I suppose... And Perdix… and I guess Iapix… </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But.. I’ve never really known them you know? Perdix and Iapix… I barely see them... And Father…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus stopped himself before he could finish that sentence. He sighs.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just want to leave this city. It’s suffocating. No one here really knows me. And I don’t want to spend eternity in the Acheron. I want to go somewhere and just be free. Be remembered. Is that so selfish?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He is almost pleading with the automaton. But it was still as unconscious as it was when Icarus first laid his wide eyes on it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“The Olympians are lucky. Never having to die. I bet they go to all kinds of places.” He grumbles. “They must, right? They’ve got all that time and money…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus trailed off and zoned out, thinking about the memories of previous glimpses of the Olympians. Father did business with them, but rarely would he let his son see them. He thought of Zeus and his booming voice. He thought of Poseidon, and the way he would seem so calm one minute, but then stormy and angry the next.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eventually, his mind drifted to Apollo.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus thought of Apollo’s smooth, melodic voice. He thought of his beauty and the way he almost seemed to glow.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Just thinking of it all made Icarus smile wide and his chest ache. His cheeks grew warm, and he realized what he was doing and snapped out of it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He looked back up to the Minotaur again. Even though it wasn’t alive, Icarus still felt a great amount of embarrassment. He tried to laugh it off, but he couldn’t shake the feeling of watching and judging that many others did when he did something like that. They always did that, always watching and judging his every move.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I’m sorry... I lost my train of thought there..”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus then realized something.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Do you have a name? I mean, the Minos family must call you something right? Not just Minotaur?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus had only seen the blueprints once. From what he remembered, he did see a designation for the creature. But he could not see it in full, and he struggled with recalling it.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“..What was it? Aster... Asterius? Asterion? Is that your name?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Something like that, I think.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus’s stomach flopped. He wanted to yell. But his voice disappeared. In its place was a quiet gasp.</span>
</p><p>He was caught.</p><p>
  <span>Icarus slowly turned around and saw, in the doorway, Ariadne.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The only child to the Minos family.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Icarus knew immediately he was in serious trouble. Not only was he caught sneaking a glimpse at the Minotaur, but he was caught by a Minos.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to-”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“You’re Daedalus’s boy, right?”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Er.. yes.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“What exactly are you doing here?” Ariadne asked in a serious tone. Icarus couldn’t tell if she was angry or not.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“I just... I just wanted to see it. That's all, really. I wasn’t planning anything…”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The teenager desperately tried to put on a confident bravado that befits the son of Daedalus. But Ariadne did not seem to be fooled.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Then if that’s the case, you won’t say a word of this to anyone, and I will do the same.”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>“Of course. Listen, I’ll just go..”</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Ariadne did not answer as Icarus quietly scurried past her in the darkness. As he reached the door, he stopped. The boy looked back one last time at the girl and the beast he did not know.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The words exchanged in that room were only kept between Icarus, Ariadne, and the Minotaur.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As he left, Ariadne wondered why Icarus came all this way, risking so much just to see that thing. Just to sit down and speak to the machine as if it were alive. Was he really that lonely? She almost felt sorry for him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>But in the end, it was just the foolish delusion of a sheltered boy dreamed up shortly before he plummeted from his father’s penthouse suite.</span>
</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>I had another Icarus related idea recently that I wanted to get off my chest.<br/>One thing that always fascinated me about the Icarus myth is the connection to the Minotaur. So I wanted to explore it in a UDAD context.<br/>Fun fact: I heard there are some versions of the story that state that instead of a tower, Icarus and Daedalus were locked in the very labyrinth Daedalus constructed that held the Minotaur. I'm not sure those versions actually exist, as I haven't read any ones that stated that. But even if it doesn't, it's still really interesting.</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>